U.S. patent number 4,677,808 [Application Number 06/922,831] was granted by the patent office on 1987-07-07 for assembly for assorted packings with different products.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Sapal, Societe Anonyme des Plieuses Automatiques. Invention is credited to Alexis Chenevard.
United States Patent |
4,677,808 |
Chenevard |
July 7, 1987 |
Assembly for assorted packings with different products
Abstract
The assembly comprises several transport bands for advancing the
products to be disposed in the preformed containers for assorted
packings to a distributing station, from where several band
conveyors transport the products to different filling stations.
Each filling station comprises a depositing means for the products
being mounted on a slewing arm comprising an extensible horizontal
arm. The depositing means comprises a tubular stem connected to a
coupling piece which in turn is carried by the head of a conveyor
thus connecting the conveyor and the slewing arm. The assembly is
designed to facilitate the regulations which are necessary for a
change of the format of assorted packings.
Inventors: |
Chenevard; Alexis (Morges,
CH) |
Assignee: |
Sapal, Societe Anonyme des Plieuses
Automatiques (Ecublens, CH)
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Family
ID: |
25687226 |
Appl.
No.: |
06/922,831 |
Filed: |
October 22, 1986 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
Issue Date |
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708972 |
Mar 1985 |
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Foreign Application Priority Data
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Mar 15, 1984 [CH] |
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1294/84 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
53/238; 198/588;
53/240; 53/251; 901/7 |
Current CPC
Class: |
B65B
5/12 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
B65B
5/12 (20060101); B65B 5/10 (20060101); B65B
005/00 () |
Field of
Search: |
;53/154,157,155,534,156,237,238,240,246,251
;414/70,110,71,226,77,744A,744B,753 ;901/7,16 ;198/369,588 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Spruill; Robert L.
Assistant Examiner: Weihrouch; Steven P.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Frost & Jacobs
Parent Case Text
This is a continuation of application Ser. No. 708,972, filed Mar.
7, 1985 now abandoned.
Claims
I claim:
1. An assembly for filling preformed containers of assorted
packings with different kinds of products, comprising several
rigidly fixed transport bands for respectively advancing products
of a same kind disposed in a row to corresponding distributing
means, at least one belt conveyor associated with each distributing
means for advancing the products of a same kind to a filling
station for filling the containers with this kind of products, and
transport means for intermittently advancing the containers to said
filling station, and filling station comprising depositing means
for gripping and removing the products from the belt conveyor and
depositing the products in said containers wherein the belt
conveyor associated with each said distributing means is extensibly
and pivotally mounted at a first end adjacent said distributing
means on a fixed pivot, and wherein a second end of said belt
conveyor remote from said distributing means carries said
depositing means, whereby said second end and said associated
depositing means are movable together in two directions essentially
perpendicular to each other to reach any point of an area covering
at least the surface of a preformed container which has been
previously positioned in the filling station.
2. The assembly of claim 1, wherein said second end of each belt
conveyor is fixed to a coupling piece which in turn is connected to
the depositing means for the products such that a movement of said
second end produces automatically an identical movement of the
depositing means.
3. The assembly of claim 2, wherein said belt conveyor includes a
first and a second element disposed one in the prolongation of the
other and wherein said elements are connected to a movable table
designed to carry out an axial movement of the first element and a
corresponding extension or retraction of said second element.
4. The assembly of claim 3, wherein said movable table is fixed to
a frame which is articulated on a pivot fastened to a support block
which is carried by a support of said transport band.
5. The assembly of claim 4, including two motors, one of which
being designed for moving the movable table with respect to said
frame, the other one being designed to swing the frame around said
pivot such that the head of the belt conveyor moves in the
direction of movement of an intermittently working transport comb
for the containers.
6. The assembly of claim 5, including a programmable control unit
designed to control simultaneously all the motors corresponding to
each belt conveyor, such that the depositing means are
simultaneously positioned into a selected position corresponding to
a particular format of the packing or a particular arrangement or
distribution of the products therein.
7. The assembly of claim 6, wherein said control unit comprises at
least one switch for selecting a desired program.
8. The assembly of claim 1, wherein the depositing means for the
products comprises a tubular stem carrying a suction nipple and a
slewing arm supporting said stem, said slewing arm comprising a
horizontal arm pivotally borne on a vertical axially movable
column.
9. The assembly of claim 8, wherein said tubular stem is engaged in
a boring provided across at least a part of the coupling piece such
that said stem may freely slide within the boring.
Description
The present invention concerns an assembly for filling preformed
containers of assorted packings with different sorts of products,
comprising several transport bands for respectively advancing
products of a same sort being deposited in a row to a corresponding
distributing means, the assembly further comprising at least one
band conveyor associated with each distributing means for advancing
products of a same sort to a filling station for filling the
containers with this sort of products, and a transport means for
intermittently advancing the containers to the filling station.
Swiss Pat. No. 584 132 describes an assembly of this type in which
several, for example three band conveyors are associated with each
distributing means, each one being designed to advance a same sort
of products to three different points where they are simultaneously
deposited in successive preformed containers, whereby they occupy
three different positions in a particular assorted packing. Indeed
it is well known to deposit several products of the same sort at
different locations in a particular assorted packing which may for
instance comprise chocolates. An installation for automatically
boxing chocolates comprises generally the same number of transport
bands as the number of sorts of chocolates to be deposited in th
box and to each transport band are generally associated three or
four conveyors designed to deposit three or four chocolates of the
same sort at different locations in each box. Several variations
are of course possible, for example two or more transport bands
could be supplied with products of the same sort, or the number of
conveyors associated to each transport band may be varied, and so
forth.
Since these assemblies are very expensive it is essential for the
utilizer to exploit them as far as possible, that means to utilize
them for all filling operations of assorted packings whatever will
be the box format, the number and the nature of different sorts of
products or their distribution within the box.
Until today, the change from one format to an other or a
modification of the distribution of the contents in th box required
a plurality of regulation steps which were relatively expensive in
view of the necessary technician time and the dead time of the
assembly. All members which are designed to cooperate for the
transport and the deposition in the containers, in particular the
band conveyors and the means for depositing products, being
independent, a precise adjustement of their respective positions
required very difficult operations.
The present invention proposes to eliminate this inconvenience in
realizing an assembly for which the adjustments according to
changes of the format of the assorted packings or modifications of
the distribution of the products within the packing may be carried
out in a very rapid and simple manner which requires only a short
dead time.
To this effect, the assembly according to the invention is
characterized by the filling station comprising a depositing means
for depositing the products, which is mounted on slewing arm, and
by the conveyor band being associated with each distributing means
being extensible and pivotingly mounted at its one end adjacent to
the distributing means on a fixed pivot, such that the other end or
head adjacent to the depositing means and the depositing means
itself may be moved together, to reach each point of an area
covering at least the surface of a preformed container which is
previously positioned in the filling station.
The present invention will be better understood with reference to
the description of an embodiment of the invention and the
accompanying drawings, wherein:
FIG. 1 represents a schematic view illustrating the functional
principle of an assembly according to the invention,
FIG. 2 represents a schematic side elevational view of the assembly
according to the invention,
FIG. 3 represents a partial top view illustrating different
possible positions of the means for depositing the products within
the preformed containers, and
FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the installation such as partially
represented in elevation by FIG. 2.
FIG. 1 represents an assembly comprising a series of transport
bands whereof only the first two 1 and 1' are represented, and
which serve for advancing products of different sorts 2 and 2'
respectively disposed in a row to distributing means 3 and 3' being
arranged at the ends of the transport bands. To each of this
distribution means is associated at least one, preferably several
for example three band conveyors 4, 4a, 4b and 4', 4'a, 4'b to
advance the products 2 and 2' respectively to different filling
stations 5, 5a, 5b and 5', 5'a, 5'b.
The filling stations comprise gripping means such as for example
suction nipples 6, 6a, 6b and 6', 6'a, 6'b to take the advanced
products from the band conveyor and dispose them in preformed
containers 7 which are intermittently advanced on a transport means
8 provided with an intermittently working transport comb designed
to advance the containers successively through the filling stations
of the assembly. The transport comb comprises schematically
represented fingers 8a (FIG. 2) which move vertically and
horizontally within longitudinal grooves 8b of the transport means
8.
The above description which refers to FIG. 1 may correspond to
known types of installations as well as to the new assembly,
particularities thereof being described now with reference to FIG.
2.
FIG. 2 represents essentially a filling station, for example
station 5 of FIG. 1, and a corresponding band conveyor 4. The
filling station comprises means 10 for depositing the products 2 in
a preformed container 7 driven by the fingers 8a of the transport
means 8. This means 10 is arranged on a slewing arm 11 which will
be described in more details in the following. The band conveyor 4
is composed in the present case of two elements 12 and 13 which are
arranged one in the prolongation of the other. The upstream end 14
of the element 13 is disposed immediately adjacent to the
distribution means 3 and the downstream end 15 of the element 12 is
arranged immediately adjacent to the means 10 for depositing the
products in the containers 7. The means 10 and the downstream end
15 of the element 12, which is called in the following the head of
the band conveyor 4, are connected by a coupling piece 16 which in
fact is supported by the head of the band conveyor 4.
The slewing arm 11 is composed of a horizontal arm 17, one end of
which is supported by a joint 18 fastened to a column 19 being
axially movable in the direction of the double arrow A, wherein the
column 19 is guided by a hollow cylinder 20. The arm 17, which is
pivotable in a horizontal plane due to the joint 18, is extensible
in the direction of the double arrow B. This arm is composed of two
elements which are connected by a connecting member such as for
example a ball-bearing 21 being schematically represented.
The means 10 for depositing the products in the containers 7
comprises a tubular stem 22 the free end of which carries the
gripping means which may be constituted for example by the suction
nipples 23. The aspiration which permits to grasp a product is
effected through the tubular stem 22, a flexible conduit 24 and a
second tubular stem 25 which is connected to a non represented
vacuum pump. A driving mechanism 26 which is known per se and
schematically represented ensures the rotational movement of the
tubular stem 22 and consequently of the suction nipples 23 which is
necessary for positioning the product 2 in the desired orientation
within the container 7. A full stem 27 cooperates with the tubular
stem 22 in order to guide the coupling piece 16.
This coupling piece comprises a base 28, a vertical support 29 and
two arms 30 and 31. The base 28, by which the guiding member is
connected to the support of the band conveyor 4, further supports a
swing lever 32 and its non represented control mechanism. The swing
lever 32 is designed to support the product 2a disposed at the head
of the row until the product is taken off by the suction nipple 23.
The two arms 30 and 31 cooperate to guide the tubular stem 22 and
the full stem 27 of the means 10. The vertical support ensures the
connection between the base 28 and the arms 30 and 31.
The conveyor 4 comprises a frame 33 which serves to support the
different components of the conveyor. These components comprise in
particular a movable table 34 carrying rolls 35, 36 and 37 between
which extends the horizontal and straight part of an endless band
38 representing the element 12 of the band conveyor 4. Furthermore,
the band 38 being driven by a driving roll 39 is stretched by rolls
40, 41 and 42 being fastened to the frame 33 and passes further on
two reversing rolls 39' which are arranged adjacent to the driving
roll 39. This arrangement permits to move the element 12 in the
direction of the double arrow C to advance the head of the band
conveyor in the extreme front position 15' which is partially
represented in dashed lines. The translational movement of the
table 34 does not require any modification of the length of the
band 38.
The element 13 comprises a band 43 and a support the back portion
of which is constituted by the frame 33, the front portion being
constituted by a part of the table 34 of the element 12. This table
34 comprises an arm 44 designed to cooperate with a screw spindle
45 connected to the frame 33 by two bearings 46 and 47, such that
it may be moved and thereby move the table 34 in the direction of
the double arrow D. The band 43 is stretched by a series of rolls
whereof rolls 48, 49 and 50 are carried by the movable table 34 and
others, in particular rolls 51, 52, 53 and 54, are carried by the
frame 33. A driving roll 55 which is coupled to a reduction motor
56 is equally mounted on the frame 33.
The frame 33 is articulated on a pivot 57 being mounted on a
support block 58 which is carried by the support of the transport
band 1. This pivot 57 permits the angular movement of the band
conveyor 4 together with all members which are fixed to the
conveyor.
Even though the different movements as designed above in particular
the extension of the band conveyor 4 in the direction of the double
arrow C, the extension of the horizontal arm 17, the rotation of
the conveyor 4 around the pivot 57 and the rotation of the
horizontal arm 17 around the joint 18 may be carried out manually,
mechanization of these movements is provided in order to obtain
full automatization for the change of the format of the assorted
packings, the arrangement of the products or the structure of the
containers.
To this end, the frame supports two electric motors 59 and 60, one
of which 59 is mounted on the frame 33 and coupled to one end of
the spindle 45 by a gear system 61. The rotation of this spindle
produces a displacement of the arm 44 in one direction or the
other, that means a movement of the table 34 in direction of the
double arrow C. The motor 60 is mounted on the support 62 of the
intermittently advancing transport comb 8. The latter is designed
such that it creates a movement of the front end of the table 34 in
a direction perpendicular to the drawing plane, that is a slewing
motion of the band conveyor 4 around the pivot 57. These motors
permit to move the head 15 of the conveyor in two directions being
essentially perpendicular to each other. Since the table is
connected to the means 10 by the coupling piece 16, its movement in
two perpendicular directions produes an identical movement of the
means 10 role of which is as mentioned above to deposit the
products into the containers 7.
As shown in FIG. 2, a product 2b carried by a suction nipple 23'
illustrated in its lower position is deposited at the left side of
the container 7 when the head 15 of the conveyor band 4 and the
coupling piece 16 occupy there respective positions illustrated in
full lines. The product 2c carried by the suction nipple occupying
the position 23" is desposited at the right side of the container 7
when the head 15 occupies the position 15' and when the coupling
piece 16 occupies the position 16', both positions 15' and 16'
being represented in dashed lines.
It is clear that this second position of the head 15 and of the
coupling piece 16 corresponds to a not represented telescopic
retraction of the horizontal arm 17 and eventually to a slewing
motion of this arm and/or a slewing motion of the conveyor 4 around
the pivot 57.
The changes of position which permit the means 10 to scan an area
covering at least the surface of the container 7 are illustrated in
FIG. 3. The joint 18 comprises a ball-bearing 21 which in turn
carries the arm 17. The free end of the arm 17 carrying the suction
nipple 23, and the head 15 of the band conveyor 4 are coupled by
the coupling piece 16 as illustrated schematically. In a first
position as illustrated in full lines, the band conveyor on one
hand and the arm 17 on the other hand are oriented and lengthwise
adjusted such that the products may be deposited in the right front
angle of the container 7. A second position as illustrated with
pointed lines shows the arms 17a which is partially withdrawn in
direction to the joint 18, which permits the suction nipple 23a to
take the products from the head 15a of the band conveyor 4a to
deposit them in the right back angle of the container 7. Two other
positions 15b, 23b and 15c, 23c of the head of the band conveyor
4b, 4c and of the suction nipple are illustrated in dashed lines
and in mixed lines repsectively illustrated in this figure. It is
clear that all intermediary positions are also accessible.
In practice the assembly comprises a programmable control unit
which may be programmed originally from the producer or from the
user and which contains all necessary data for controlling the
entirety of operations which are requested for change of the format
of the assorted packings or the arrangement of the products and/or
the nature of the contents of the packing. Thus a selection of a
program by means of a non represented switch or any other control
means permits to automatically transmit the appropriate signals to
the motors 59 and 60 in order to have them turned a predetermined
number of rounds which corresponds to the desired movement of the
head 15 of the band conveyor 4. As mentioned previously this
movement engages a similar movement of means 10 due to the
existence of the coupling piece 16, which brings the suction nipple
23 in the required position to deposit the product 2 at the desired
location within the container 7.
By a single command which consists in selecting a program, it is
thus possible to modify selectively in the entire assembly the
positions of all means 10 for depositing the products in the
containers, which means 10 are connected to the respective band
conveyor 4 and the slewing arm 11.
The change of program is consequently considerably facilitated.
Furthermore, the motors are in this embodiment only operated for
changes of the format and during small periods such that their life
time is increased.
FIG. 4 shows a part of a filling line comprising two stations 5
such as described with reference to FIG. 2. This view shows the
profile of the support 62 on which the preformed containers 7 are
moved by the fingers 8a which are engaged in the grooves 8b,
thereby permitting to push the containers in the direction of the
arrow D.
The means 10 for depositing the products in the preformed
containers 7 is carried by a corresponding slewing arm 11, the
horizontal arm 17 of which is pivotingly arranged on the column 19.
The positioning of this arm may be operated manually or by all kind
of other mechanical or pneumatic means which are controlled by the
programmation unit.
Each conveyor 4 for advancing the products 2 is equipped with
guides for positioning and correctly aligning the products. These
guides comprise at least one lateral band 70 driven by a motor 71.
The controls units 72 which are schematically represented permit to
switch on and off the means for positioning the products.
* * * * *